Prehistory of West Virginia - Archaic Period

Archaic Period

The Archaic period, from 8000–2000 BCE, experienced warmer climates. Archaic peoples in West Virginia were hunter-gatherers, who fished and gathered wild berries, nuts, seeds, and wild plants. The megafauna had migrated or died out by this time, so people hunted deer, bear, wild turkeys, rabbits, and other small game with atlatls and small spears. The atlatls used elaborate stone weights called bannerstones. They used used ground-stone implements and flint woodworking tools, as well as bowls of sandstone and soapstone, knives, and net sinkers. In Kanawha Valley, tools were made with Kanawha Black Flint. The Kessell Side Notched point at the St. Albans Site, dated to 7900 BCE, is an example of a rare, early archaic stone point.

The archaic stone point chronology in the Kanawha Valley is generally as follows:

  • Kanawha Points of LeCroy Period (6200-6300 BCE)
  • Stanley Period (ca. 5745 BCE)
  • Amos Period (4365-4790 BCE)
  • Hansford Period (3600-3700 BCE)
  • Transitional Period (1000-1200 BCE).

Some Brewerton Phase side and corner-notched points (side-notched tradition) are often found resharpened, and some were modified as hafted end-scrapers. A few uncommon Pointed Pole Adzes are thought to have been used for heavy woodworking at one late northern Panhandle Archaic site (2000 BCE), where a dugout canoe has possibly been found.

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